The Spark
by DobbylovesWinky
Summary: Jack remembers something important.  Major spoilers for Children of Earth and blatant Janto.
1. The Spark

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, though I could care less about the money. I'd rather have Jack and Ianto :-) _

_This is my take on what could have happened after Children of Earth. Yes I realize the hub was destroyed, I forgot. I wrote this in about a half hour, it was all very stream of consciousness, bear with me. One day, I'll re-write to account for the hub no longer existing. It's also been a while since I saw Children of Earth, so my timeline might be off. C'est la vie. _

The Spark

Ianto dead. It wasn't fucking fair, and didn't I just sound like a child whining about what was fair and what wasn't. I wanted him back so much it was like a rotting hole in my chest. I wanted to see his face, hear that beautiful voice speak to me. I wanted to kiss him until we couldn't breathe.

Maybe it was a good thing he died when he did. I could never have sacrificed Steven otherwise, not knowing I would have to look into Ianto's eyes afterward, and face his judgment. I've done horrible things in my life, things I could never expect to be forgiven for. Ianto was the one good thing, the spark that made everything right. I never thought about settling down, but with him, I could see . . . a spark.

Sparks. Rose's voice drifted to me from so many years ago.

_Nanogenes._

And the doctor, the first one I'd known and loved. _What's life, life's easy. Nothing to a nanogene. _

I shoved back from my desk, sending my chair flying into the opposite wall. Where the hell were those things? I'd had them so long, I'd forgotten about them. An emergency, last resort life saving measure. Something any time agent with a half a brain would have.

I ran down to my bedroom, scrambled through my clothes, magazines, junk I never used. The metal vial rolled into view across the carpeted floor as if it had only come into being at that moment. Had just appeared out of nowhere. I snatched it up and ran down to the morgue.

So many things might go wrong. It could all blow up in my face. The nanogenes might have gone inactive. Ianto's body might be too far gone. Nanogenes could do a lot, but even they had their limits. Still, if there was some hope, a single spark left.

I was running so fast, I slammed into the wall of metal drawers. I scrambled for Ianto's. Number 11. Fumbled with the catch, yanked it out with a whine from the wheels. Ripped away the body bag. And cried.

He lay there, the grey pallor of death thick over his skin. This was not Ianto, he was gone. I lifted the metal vial in my shaking hand. If these damn things didn't work, I was leaving. I couldn't stand staying here any longer. Not without Ianto.

I thumbed the catch on the vial. With a soft click, the top sprang open. Nothing happened.

I wanted to scream, and fling the damn vial across the room. Thank the stars I didn't. A quick flash, as the first nanogene zipped out, followed by two dozen more. Enough to fix the worst injuries any person could expect to get out in the field.

They ignored me, perhaps sensing on some level that I was beyond their abilities. They flowed over Ianto's body and lit him with a golden glow that put me in mind of some religious painting. Flowed around and over him, some slipping into his mouth, ears and nose.

I braced myself on the rack, and waited. Tears pricked my eyes and the urge to throw up left me weak kneed and dizzy. If it didn't work, I was leaving.

The nanogenes faded. They were programmed only to respond to one injured body then shut off. To prevent any time agents from setting rampant immortality loose on some backward planet. Ianto remained still, though I could have sworn there was a bit more color in his cheeks.

He had been dead too long. To for gone for the nanogenes to help. I leaned over and kissed him one last time.

His lips warmed mine.

His first gasp of air reminded me of my own resurrections. He hands gripped my arms, then flailed, then grabbed at me again. I just kept kissing him, afraid that if I pulled away it would turn out to be my imagination. Tears poured down my cheeks, wetting both our faces.

Ianto kissed me back, finally, and his arms wrapped around me. I dragged him off the body rack and into my arms, holding him up and never once breaking the kiss. He was the one who pulled away, and looked into my eyes.

Maybe looking into his eyes is what I was really afraid of. Looking and not seeing him there. Just a living body, but not Ianto. No spark.

But there he was. My Ianto. Staring at me with a look of pure confusion and terror. "I died." He gasped. He was shaking.

"Yes." It occurred to me then how bloody cold the damn morgue was and that he was completely naked. I tucked an arm around his waist and led him back to the office. I fetched a blanket to wrap him in and left him sitting on the couch while I went to make a pot of strong coffee.

My head swam at what I'd just done. He was back. The nanogenes worked and I had him back. The closest thing to a miracle I would ever have. It didn't feel real.

I poured a cup of coffee and carried it up the stairs, terrified that when I walked into the office he would be gone. The dream would end and Ianto would be in the morgue again.

He sat up in my chair, blanket tight around his shoulders, eyes blank and staring. I set the coffee on the desk and knelt in front of him. "Hey. Look at me. Are you okay?"

He stared at me like I'd grown two more heads. "I was dead. Why am I not dead?"

"I brought you back." I owed him more of an explanation than that, but now was not the time.

He drew in a shuddering breath and nodded. "Right. Thanks." He ignored the coffee.

After a few minutes, I stood and pulled him up with me. I led him down to my room, and tucked him into bed. He didn't resist, too shaken to do much of anything. I remembered my first resurrection, waking up alone in the middle of a damn desert, my last memory of blazing sun and my skin feeling like it was cooking on my body. I remembered it took me days to form a coherent word. Ianto was doing pretty well considering.

I stripped down to my pants and climbed into the bed facing him. He looked into my eyes and tears glittered in his. I drew him close to me, and he pressed his head to my chest and cried. I held him all night, listening to his sobs, his gratitude at being alive again and his endless fears of what would happen next. I was afraid too, but so glad to have him back.


	2. The Promise

So after rewatching COE I determined there's no way this series could work with the Hub destroyed, because that would also have destroyed a key piece of plot device needed for The Spark. C'est la vie. So this is set in an AU where the bomb in Jack's stomach went off somewhere other than the Hub and they had to abandon the Hub for another reason.

Also decided to make this a chapter of the previous story, because frankly that's how I want it read.

Spoilers for Children of Earth

Jack/Ianto, mention of Jack/Alice's mother

The Promise

I woke after too little sleep to Ianto stirring restlessly in my arms. He blinked, met my gaze and the fog cleared from his eyes. "How?"

I sighed. "Before I ended up here, on Earth." A pause, as I tried to find the right words. "Let's just say my life wasn't much safer. But I didn't have this handy healing ability either, or the whole not able to die thing. So I had a fall back. Future technology called nanogenes. I had an emergency vial that I had forgotten all about until last night."

He frowned. "They can bring someone back to life?"

I almost laughed at the echo of the Rose's words, but that would have been entirely inappropriate. "An old friend of mine had a few remarks about that." I brushed a hand over Ianto's cheek and tightened my other arm to pull him closer to me. "I'm just glad they worked."

"What about the 456?" A look of horror twisted his face. "How long have I been dead?"

I pressed a soothing kiss to his forehead, enjoying the warmth of his skin. "Only a couple of days. The 456 are gone. I . . . dealt with them."

"How?"

I would have to tell him eventually what I'd done to Steven, but not now. Not when it would ruin the moment we had. Moments were all I could hope for anymore. "I'll tell you another day. I promise. Ianto, I would never have forgotten you. I will never forget you."

A single tear leaked from his eye and soaked into the pillow under his head. "You can't be sure of that."

It would come between us one day, if I had my wish and he lived to a ripe old age, he would reject me. How could it feel to love a man who never aged, never died? Alice's mother had cringed from it, told me she felt like my mother when we went out. She couldn't stand kissing me in public after a time, because she was afraid of what people would think. She asked me often about my past relationships, and I could tell she was trying not to ask me for a promise I couldn't keep. That she would be my last.

I kissed Ianto, tasting his tears and my own mixing on our skin. I couldn't promise him that either. All those years ahead of me, I would go crazy if I had to be alone.

So I damn well would keep the one promise I had already made to him. "I promise," I whispered against his lips. "For the rest of my life, I will remember you. To the ends of the universe and beyond, I will do whatever it takes to remember you. I love you."

"I love you too." His arms slid around my waist and he deepened the kiss. I promised myself then that I would do whatever it took to make him happy for however long he had left. I would never take him for granted or assume he knew how I felt. He was mine until he died, even if he walked away. I would always be right there, keeping my promise and making sure he was happy.


	3. The Revelation

_Final chapter, and the story continues in the as yet unnamed sequel which I will post at some point in the next few weeks. _

* * *

><p>Shortly after we woke, Ianto and I managed to drag ourselves out of bed. Much as I would have loved to keep him there forever and catch up on the entire day we missed, I knew he wasn't ready for that. The shock of coming back to life hadn't fully hit him yet, and when it did the last thing I wanted was for him to think I'd taken advantage of him.<p>

We showered, and he found a hoodie and a pair of sweat pants he'd left in the closet. "I'll have to go back to my flat for some real clothes." He smoothed a hand over the front of the hoodie, probably imaging the neat planes and press of a suit.

I smiled. He did look good in one. "Later, after we've eaten. Your keys are . . ." in the morgue, in a box labeled with name, date and time of death. "I'll get those for you." I gave him a sound kiss on the mouth to cover up my own stupid almost slip of the tongue. "Why don't you make some coffee?"

Relief flashed in his eyes and he climbed the ladder out of my bunker with easy steps. I watched him go and my throat tightened. I had just gotten him back, so why did I feel so terrified about losing him again already.

I shook off the dark thoughts and headed toward the morgue. I purposely averted my eyes from the rows of body drawers and went straight to the storage bins along the far wall. I found Ianto's box, and lifted the lid.

His suit lay inside, folded perfectly. His shoes lay on top and beside those was an envelope. I lifted out the envelope, and poured its contents on the counter.

Ianto's watch, his communicator, wallet and keys. I tossed the envelope back in the box, secured the lid and carried his things back into the main hub.

I found him sitting in front of the coffee machine, watching the pot slowly fill with golden brown liquid. Light shimmered across his blue eyes. I dropped his things on Tosh's old desk and crossed the room to him. I cupped his face in my hands and he looked up at me with tear filled eyes.

"I'm grateful, Jack. I really am happy to be alive. It's just hard to remember that I have to die again. And it's just black. Just black, and nothing and feeling like I'm falling apart."

I urged him to stand and wrapped my arms around him. "I know. Believe me, it was a long time before I was convinced I couldn't die. Coming back to life made me even more terrified of that darkness."

After a few minutes embracing, he pulled away from me and I watched him visibly gather himself, don professionalism and control the way he would put on one of his suits. He took the carafe and poured two cups of coffee, adding milk and sugar to mine in the exact amounts I liked. Still and always, my Ianto.

We sat in companionable silence at the terminals, sipping coffee and listening the monitors beep. The rift had been quiet, not so unusual after an alien visitation, almost as if it reacted to the upheaval.

Ianto set his cup down and looked at me. "Would those nanogenes have worked on Tosh and Owen?"

Of all the questions I'd been dreading, I had not expected that one. Much as it had broken my heart when Tosh and Owen died, it simply hadn't occurred to me to use the nanogenes. I had forgotten them until the night before, until the ache to have Ianto in my arms had become too unbearable.

I had loved Owen and Tosh. They were a part of my team, a part of my life. I couldn't explain why using the nanogenes hadn't occurred to me all those months ago. I only knew if I had used them back then, they would have been gone, and one, two or all three of them might have been killed by the 456, and there would be no way of getting them back.

I met his eyes and nodded. "They would have worked. I honestly didn't remember I had them until last night."

He said nothing, only stared down at his coffee cup, perhaps feeling a strange brand of survivor's guilt. I could say nothing to ease his mind. I was having enough trouble easing my own.

The groan of the cog door rolling back startled both of us. I came to my feet, possessed by some urge I didn't understand to hide Ianto from view. He stood as well and came to my side.

Gwen appeared in the doorway, and her jaw fell open. She blinked a few times and squinted as if she didn't fully trust her eyes. Her face crumpled and after all we'd been through, I realized suddenly that she was afraid it was some sort of trick. Some alien or future technology twisting her mind.

I stepped forward and reached out to her. "He's alive, Gwen. It's real."

Gwen jerked her head toward me, tears leaking from the sudden movement. She turned back to Ianto, bit her lip, took an awkward step closer. "Ianto?"

Ianto caught my hand and squeezed. I returned the grip and let go.

He and Gwen met in the middle of the room and she threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. I couldn't quite make out the muffled words she spoke until I walked closer to them.

"How? Oh God, how?" She raised her head and cast me a horrified look. "Not the resurrection gauntlet?"

My mouth went dry and I shook my head. "Something else." With any luck she would be too overwhelmed to ask what.

A noise came from the cog door, and Rhys walked in, arms loaded with grocery bags. "Oi, I thought the plan was you would open the door then come help."

The bags crashed to the floor. He gaped at Gwen and Ianto, then at me. "What the bloody hell? More alien shit after what we just went through. What is that?" He jabbed a finger toward Ianto, who winced.

I couldn't stop a defeated sigh from slipping out. "It's Ianto. The real Ianto."

Rhys stood with his jaw hanging open like a gutted fish, then took an abrupt move toward Gwen and Ianto. "Gwen said that couldn't be done. How?"

"Long story." I sighed, wondering how long I could away with that answer. I could see the skepticism in Rhys's eyes and I could hardly blame him. His pregnant wife was standing inches away from a man who'd been declared dead two days earlier. Even Gwen was giving Ianto a strange look, as if she didn't really trust his existence.

Ianto stepped away from her, and cast me a helpless look.

I had to say something. "I . . ." The sharp wail of an alarm cut me off and every computer in the main hub went haywire.


End file.
